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Monday, March 17, 2008

Mallaya throws a party for IPL team

With Vijay Mallya set to announce his high-profile IPL team at a grand show, the event was bound to be something memorable. And memorable it was. Though the host flew in three hours late, when he arrived, the grand show, complete with lasers, a burst of orange-and-red confetti and the grand lineup more than made up for it. (though some guests missed the presence of some of the foreign players like Chanderpaul, Kallis and Bracken). For the early birds, there was lots of chilled bubbly and premium whisky on offer. Dav Whatmore, very low-profile these days, was spotted chatting with friends before leaving early to catch up with some shut-eye. Brijesh Patel, Syed Kirmani and other former cricketers were also seen enjoying the evening. Saad bin Jung, with wife Sangeeta (glam in all-black), brought along British journalist guests Keith and Riva Elliot. Martand and Rina Mahindra, Ashok and Madhuri Genomal, Shahid Mehmood, Ramesh Ramanathan, Pritham Basappa, Anuja Sharma (husband Charu was busy officiating behind the scenes) were among those seen that evening. Among the glam brigade were Meeru Pai (also stunning in a black gaara saree) and Leena Singh (also in black). Seen making a grand entrance was Srikantadatta Wadiyar. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw and John Shaw, Nilima Rovshen, Vinita Bali, Venkat Vardhan and Ritu Mallya added their presence to the gathering. Then, to the sounds of Eye of the Tiger, appeared Vijay Mallya, dressed in designer black along with his super-glam team led by Rahul Dravid. Introductions were made, witticisms exchanged and as the crowds of guests and photographers gathered around the stars of the evening, other guests drifted off to eat dinner and to check out what Clement had lined up for them, musically speaking.